More Buses, Less Roads

OTTAWA—Sierra Club Canada says federal infrastructure spending should be invested on developing and maintaining public transportation, not wasted on new roads. OC Transpo Route 245 was recently cut from the City’s budget without public consultation leaving residents south of Manotick without public transportation.

“We should be making it easier for residents to leave their cars at home and take the city bus to work; instead we’re canceling bus routes and building unnecessary roads to new urban sprawl, exasperating traffic and climate change,” said John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada.

Route 245 was the only bus route canceled in the City’s budgeting process. Residents south of Manotick upset with the cut petitioned the City to reinstate the route. Meanwhile, they are forced to pay an $80 transit levy until the end of the year despite having no access to public transportation.

At the same time, the City is forging ahead with the planned Terry Fox Drive Extension and suburb development, while in the process, destroying a pristine wetland home to endangered species such as the Blanding’s turtle. The price-tag of the new road—a whopping 50 million dollars.

“It would be much more prudent for the City to invest in public transportation and getting cars off the road than to continue down this destructive and cyclical path of more roads and more development,” said Bennett. “We are not only endangering local plant and animal species, but also the planet.”

Related Posts

Join the Blue Whale Campaign in building public support for increased protection of our threatened gulf ecosystem and a moratorium on oil and gas development in these waters. On Saturday, November 1st at 6:30 pm, the Prince Edward Island...

By John BacherPhoto: Urban Sprawl on Oak Ridges Moraine threatens health of Lake Ontario. By: Mary Lou BacherThe province of Ontario is engaged in what is termed a decade long review of the Greenbelt Plan and its complimentary legislation, Places to Grow. (...

Join us for Paradise Beach Project planting event September 20, 2014Sierra Club, Town of Ajax and Toronto and Region Conservation are psyched to plant native plants and trees on Paradise Beach bioswales as part of the Great Canadian Coastal Clean-up Saturday...